The "Bottled Bacteria" activity instructions are a bit unclear, but the remaining activities investigating limiting factors in ecosystems are well-written. Learners model the exosystem of a bear and a herd of deer. They set up a...

If any of the limiting factors in an environment change, both animal and plant populations also change. The video explains two different models of growth and the impact of limiting factors. It highlights the carrying capacity of an...

How does a population's habitat determine the size of that population? Teach learners about carrying capacity and limiting factors with an engaging roleplay activity. Class members pose as a colony of penguins who must gather food amidst...

Along came a spider, who sat down beside her. She screamed, but RJ wouldn't smash it because spiders are a limiting factor for other insects in an ecosystem. In this video, other common limiting factors for populations are listed....

Students play a board game with provided cards which help them realize that limiting factors may restrict an organism in its development and productivity and direct evolutionary pathways.

Learners become butterflies to complete an activity that has them collect tokens that represent food, water, and shelter. They must collect their necessities while in competition with other butterflies in the same area. Once the...

The clear cartoon style slides in this presentation contain details that affect population growth. Natural disasters and other external factors are listed as density independent factors, and density dependent factors, such as competition...

For AP biology or ecology classes, here is a worksheet that explores population growth. Carrying capacity, limiting factors, and k-strategies are dealt with using short-answer questions. 

Ecology enthusiasts explore ecosystems with this instructional activity. They define vocabulary terms and write out answers to questions about distribution and abundance of life. They complete a chart comparing abiotic and biotic factors...

Will human population growth always be exponential, or will we find a limiting factor we can't avoid? Young scientists learn about both exponential and logistic growth models in various animal populations. They use case studies to...

In this ecosystems worksheet, students will look at 4 diagrams and determine if either primary or secondary succession would occur after that particular event happened. Then students will determine the limiting factor for 4 different...

Life has its ups and downs ... especially if you're an animal! Biology scholars engage in a population study through an inquiry-based lesson plan. Pupils work together to explore the factors that affect deer populations, then examine the...

A complete study of population ecology is covered by this worksheet. Biology or ecology learners answer questions and interpret population graphs. This can be used as the intended guided notes worksheet or assigned as homework.

As the reality of population decline across many species becomes real, pupils learn about the variables related to changes in populations. They complete a simulation of population changes and graph the results, then discuss limiting...

How large can a population become? The fifth installment of a nine-part unit teaches young ecologists about limiting factors that determine the carrying capacity of species in the Sonoran Desert. Here is a PowerPoint to help present this...

In this populations worksheet, students are given 4 terms to define, they draw a representation of each term and they indicate what they are reminded of by the term. The topics include populations, communities, limiting factors and carry...

The New York Regents High School Examinations are comprehensive and include various question formats, including multiple choice and graph analysis. This particular version, the 2008 Living Environment exam, surveys a variety of topics....

The 2005 version of the Regents High School Examination in ecology is as comprehensive as previous years' exams. It consists of 40 multiple-choice questions on topics ranging from the structure of DNA to interactions within an ecosystem....

The living environment, from the interior of a cell to the complex relationships among populations, is queried in this final examination. Learners examine air pollution maps, cell diagrams, population graphs, and drawings of cells. They...

This exam covers every topic in a typical first-year biology course. A wide variety of question styles gives high schoolers every opportunity to show what they know. Why start from scratch when a comprehensive final exam is easily...

During this game, kids become migratory shorebirds and fly among wintering, nesting, and stopover habitats. If they do not arrive at a suitable habitat on time, they do not survive. Catastrophic events are periodically introduced that...

Elementary ecologists pretend to be migratory hummingbirds. They fly between wintering and nesting grounds, trying to reach a habitat haven. In a musical-chair fashion, some birds will miss out, and are removed from the game. To further...

Observing plant succession doesn't have to be a decade long process. A hands-on lesson has groups study succession over a designated space. Learners use their observation skills to record differences in plant and soil characteristics in...

Salmonella poisoning impacts over 200,000 people in the United States each year. Scholars learn about the growth of these bacteria using multiple approaches. Then they apply the same growth calculations to endangered species and think...